Something about the fog changed.
The hairs on my arms stood up straight, my skin prickling with goose bumps. Was someone there? Did I hear something? The sound of footsteps, perhaps? I stood still, breath held, trying to tell if I could hear a noise or if I’d just imagined things.
But movement came again, a foot scraping across the ground.
“Hello?” I called out, my voice trembling. “Is someone there?”
As I stepped forward again, something black swept through the white.
Chapter
2
With a scream, I staggered back.
My heart pounded, my eyes wide with fear. I stared around, trying to see through the fog and spot the thing that had swiped at me. I felt as if I could be attacked from any direction at any moment, and I didn’t know which way to turn.
Why couldn’t I hear the person, or smell them? Everyone had some kind of smell, but this person had nothing. Other than the slight scraping sound, I hadn’t even heard them approach.
But had it even been a person? An animal perhaps? Or something else entirely.
The limb had been so long and black, with spindly, claw-like fingers. I had seen it somewhere before, I felt sure of it. But I didn’t want to remember.
The noise came again, a scraping combined with a strange clicking sound, like someone cracking their knuckles.
Click-click-click ... craaaack ...
Something brushed against the back of my neck and I screamed, spinning around, my arms waving to fight the thing off. Blind with panic, I staggered forward, swiping my arms to the left and right, hoping to hit the person before they hit me. I just wanted to get away from there, and all other fears about cars and cliff drops had fled from my mind.
But nothing came after me, and the sound I’d heard had stopped. All I could hear now was my own heavy breathing and the thump of my heartbeat in my ears.
I realized I had no idea which direction I’d turned in. If I kept going in this direction, would I reach Riley’s trailer, or would I wander back onto the main road, or off into the bush?
The fog parted in front of me, revealing a tunnel I could see down perfectly, the road heading away. Almost miraculously to me, Riley stood at the end. His thick, dark brows were drawn down in concentration, his face tensed so his cheekbones appeared even sharper than normal, his full lips pressed together. His hands were lifted out in front of him, palms facing away from each other, as if pushing a pathway through the fog. I realized that was exactly what he was doing.
With a sob of relief, I rushed toward him. His dark blue eyes had been unfocused, and unseeing, as if looking into a part of the world I couldn’t see, but my movement must have pulled him out of his concentration, and his gaze focused on me.
“Icy!”
The nickname he’d given me when we’d first met, due to me acting so coldly toward him, had never sounded so good. I threw myself into his arms, literally climbing up his body with my legs, wrapping my arms around his neck to press my face against his throat. His arms dropped to hold me against him.
“Hey, Icy. What’s wrong?”
As soon as he lowered his arms, the fog began to surround us again, pressing in against our bodies with its cold, wet fingers. I was certain I’d hear the click-click-click again any moment.
“The fog! How did you keep back the fog?”
“It’s part of the air, Icy. You know it’s one of the things I can control.”
I untangled myself from him and dropped down to the ground. “Then don’t stop!”
“I only controlled it to find you. When I got back from work and you weren’t at the trailer, and then you didn’t come home, I called your friends and they said you were headed back here. When you didn’t arrive and the fog closed in, I came looking for you.”
“Thank you,” I glanced around, frantic, waiting to hear or see something, “but please, just keep the fog back!”
He gave me a comforting smile. “We’re not far from the trailer. I know the way back.”
“I don’t care about that!” My voice had reached an unattractively shrill tone. “Just hold back the fog.”
He must have decided I was serious. He dropped his hands from me, and the concentration returned to his face, that slightly distant look to his eyes. But almost miraculously, the fog moved back, leaving a bubble of clear air around us. He spoke without looking at me directly. “Are you going to tell me what this is about? It’s only fog, Icy.”
“No, it isn’t. There’s something wrong with it.”
“Hey, I know about these things. This is just fog. It’s thick, and disorienting, but it’s still only fog. It’s common at this time of year on this part of the coast.”
“You’re wrong, Riley. I saw something, and heard something. There was something in it.”
“In what? In the fog?”
I nodded. “Or maybe it’s using the fog to hide inside, to move without being seen.” My voice became hushed. “Only, I did see it.”
“Stay by my side. We’ll go back to my trailer.”
I didn’t think we had many other choices.
I slipped my arm around his waist and huddled close to his side as he did an about turn and started to head back the way he’d come. He kept his arms lifted, his body tensed with whatever connection he was making with the air. The fog cleared in a V-shaped tunnel ahead of us, and we hurried down it. Though I tried to keep my eyes trained on the road, my gaze flicked from side to side at the walls of fog we passed through, waiting to hear that strange noise again, or for a black arm to reach out of the thick white cloud and snatch at us.
Within a few minutes, we swapped the asphalt for a dirt track, and I knew we weren’t far from Riley’s trailer. I couldn’t wait to be out of the fog and with four fairly solid walls around us. But even as we walked, the fog began to thin. I realized I could see the outline of the trailer up ahead, even though Riley hadn’t yet cleared that area. To both sides of us, the shapes of trees began to emerge through the white. The fog no longer had the dense solidity of before, but was now more like a mist, and as each minute passed, the thinner it became.
I breathed a sigh of relief, and Riley dropped his hands, slipping one around my shoulder instead.
We picked up the pace, and hurried to the trailer. Riley hadn’t bothered to lock the door, and we fell inside, my paranoia apparently having rubbed off on him. I didn’t let him go, but wrapped my arms around his waist and placed my face against his chest, allowing my heart rate to slow, while I listened to his. My trembling began to subside.
Still somewhat bemused, Riley stroked my hair, and kissed me on the top of my head.
“You want to tell me what that was all about?” he asked, gently.
I felt a little stupid at my panic. Outside the window, the fog had almost completely cleared. Only a few wisps, like low-lying cloud, still trailed across the ground.
“I thought I saw something in the fog. And I definitely heard something.”
“What?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know how to explain it. It was like a clicking noise, as if someone was cracking their neck or their knuckles, only it kept going on for too long and was way too loud.”
He focused on me with his intense blue eyes, ducking his head a little so he was on my level. “The fog can really distort noise, Icy. Even sounds from far away can seem really near. The molecules are more like water—closer together—so you could have been hearing things from a long way away.”
I frowned. “But that’s the weird thing. I couldn’t hear anything else. Not the ocean or any other cars. I didn’t even hear you approach!”
“Like I said, it can really distort things.”
I was doubtful.
“And you said you saw something?” he prompted.
“Yeah, it looked like an arm grabbing at me out of the fog.”
“But no one was there?”
I shook my head. “No, I mean, yes, there might have been.” I shook my hea
d again and rubbed my face with my hands. “I was sure someone was there, in the fog with me. Now, I’m not so sure.”
He led me over to sit on the narrow couch attached to the wall of the trailer. Meekly, I allowed myself to be led.
Riley disappeared into the kitchen and returned with two tumblers containing an inch of amber liquid.
“Riley!” I protested.
“Just drink it. It’ll help calm your nerves, and it isn’t as if you can get drunk anyway.”
He was right. Alcohol didn’t affect me the same way it did regular people. My body processed the toxin too quickly. Even so, I gulped back the whisky. The alcohol burned down my throat and made my eyes water, but for the moment, at least, the panic faded.
Riley took a couple of sips of his own.
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Is yours medicinal, too?”
He grinned and gave me a wink that made my stomach flip-flop. “I wouldn’t let a lady drink alone.”
“That’s very sweet of you, but I can’t hang out with you drinking. I’ve got plans tonight, remember? It’s Dana’s birthday and I need to get ready to meet the girls. They keep complaining that I’m always with you.”
I got to my feet, planning on heading into the bathroom to sort myself out, but he grabbed my arm and nuzzled my neck. He spoke into my ear with that Irish twang I always found so sexy. “Is that such a bad thing?” The way he said thing sounded more like ‘ting.’
“Not for me,” I said with a smile. “But if you decide to run off and leave me, I’d like to think I at least have a few friends left to pick up the pieces.”
“You should know by now that I’m not going anywhere.”
I reached up and pushed my fingers through his thick, black curls. “I know. You’re here with me.”
“And that’s exactly where I plan on staying.”
He captured my mouth with a kiss, my lips instantly parting to welcome his tongue to tease mine. My eyes slipped shut, my body pressing against his. We knew each other so well now, physically, but I still couldn’t get enough of him. I didn’t know if it was only Riley and I who felt this way, but almost every opportunity we had was spent naked in bed together. It had gotten to the point where I wondered what I had done with all my free time before I’d met him.
My arms found their way back around him, my fingers slipping into the soft hair at the nape of his neck. His hands slid down my back to cup my ass through my jeans and hold me against him. As I’d done outside in the fog, I hooked my thighs around his waist and pulled myself up so I clung to him as he kissed me. I tasted the whisky on his breath, and knew I tasted the same way.
Without removing his mouth from mine, Riley walked through the trailer, carrying me into the bedroom. He threw me to the bed, and quickly popped the button on my jeans before yanking the denim down my legs. I wriggled out of my t-shirt, and propped myself up on my elbows to watch the enjoyable sight of Riley pulling his black t-shirt over his head and then shucking off his jeans. While Riley’s face still had a touch of youth to it—from his full lips, to his long, dark eyelashes—his body was all rugged male.
He claimed me on the bed, his body eclipsing mine. He grabbed my hands, pinning them above my head and kissing my neck, down my collarbone, and across to my bra strap. He released one of my hands to pull the strap down my shoulder, and free my breast from the lacy cup.
His hot mouth encased my nipple and I groaned, trying to tug my hands free so I could lace them in his hair. He held me firm, but, as he left my breast and moved lower, he was forced to let go. His lips traced a trail across my stomach, making my muscles quiver, and heat flare from between my thighs. I knew exactly where he was headed, and the anticipation was almost as delightful as the act itself.
Riley hooked his fingers over the waistband of my panties and rolled them down my thighs. I bent my knees to let him pull the underwear off one foot, before kicking them away. Then his mouth was on me, his head disappearing between my thighs. I let out a long moan of satisfaction and allowed my hands to fall onto the bed behind my head.
He lifted his face from me and gave me a smouldering scowl that made my insides flicker with excitement. “Don’t think you’re going to get away with just lying there.”
I laughed and reached out toward him. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
But he shook his head. “Uh-uh.”
Before I could do anything more, Riley grabbed me around the waist and flipped me over. I got a glimpse of how much he wanted me from the bulge beneath his Jockey shorts, but he rid himself off the underwear and positioned himself behind me.
With a fast, hard thrust, he pushed inside me, filling me. Pleasure made my head swim. Nothing felt better to me in this world than having Riley inside me. When he wasn’t, it was as if I was empty, missing a part of myself.
With every movement inside me, he pushed the fears of earlier further from my mind and heart. I was encased only within the bubble that was Riley and me.
We reached our peaks and collapsed into a sweaty, but sated tangle of limbs.
He held me close. “You know I’d be happy if we never left this bed?”
I kissed him. “So would I, but I still need to go and meet the girls. It’s Dana’s twentieth birthday, and apparently something big and ‘witchy’ is going to happen.” I frowned and leaned back slightly so I could look him in the eye. “You don’t have any idea what that is, do you?”
He shook his head and laughed. “I’m not a witch, Icy.”
I rolled my eyes. “I know, I know. I just thought you might know more about these things.”
“Nah, I stay out of women’s business.” He gave me a saucy smile. “Well, not completely out of women...”
“Hey!” I slapped him on his bare shoulder. “Behave yourself.”
“You make that very hard for me to do, Icy.”
“Well, figure it out.”
I climbed out of bed and walked, naked, toward the bathroom. Riley groaned and grabbed a pillow and put it over his face. “You’re killing me!” he shouted after me.
A bubble of happiness swelled inside me. I loved that I could have that affect on him.
I took a quick shower and washed my hair, before drying off and dressing in my usual outfit of jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers. I kept half of my things at Riley’s place to save constantly having to haul my stuff between the dorm and trailer. It had been Riley’s suggestion—it wasn’t as if I were trying to move in without him noticing.
My fears of earlier had been all but forgotten, but Riley, it seemed, remembered my panic. He stood waiting for me, dressed in his jeans and black t-shirt and boots, the keys to his bike dangling from his index finger.
“I’m giving you a ride down to the beach,” he announced.
I didn’t mind. “Sure. That would be good.”
“And I’ll pick you up when you’re done. Just call my cell when you’re ready.”
That reminded me of something. “I tried to call you earlier, during the fog, but I didn’t have any service.”
He frowned. “That’s strange.”
I fished into the pocket of my jeans, and took out my cell. I had plenty of bars now. “Can fog stop cell phone service?”
“Yeah, I guess it could weaken the signal. Weird that you lost it completely, though.”
“Yeah,” I mumbled, lost in thought. Losing my phone service hadn’t been the only thing that had been weird.
We rode down to the beach, my arms wrapped around Riley’s waist as he skilfully guided the bike down the winding road.
He stopped the bike and I climbed off, removing my helmet and handing it back to him. He pulled me in for another kiss, and another, and another. We were still very much in that ‘can’t keep our hands off each other phase,’ and I didn’t ever want it to end.
“I feel bad leaving you,” I told him. “You wouldn’t be spending your evening on your own if it wasn’t for me.”
“I’m a big boy, Icy. I can survive a few hours on my own.
Besides, how do you know I don’t have a big party planned at the trailer? The girls could be lining out of the door.”
I smacked him on the shoulder, appreciating the hardness of his muscles as I did so—all that physical work was doing him good. “Don’t even joke about it.”
He grinned. “No one could live up to you, Icy.”
I gave him a flash of my teeth. “And if they even tried, I’d rip their throats out.” I was only partially joking. Jealousy wasn’t an emotion I’d ever given much thought to before meeting Riley—not that he did anything to make me jealous—but meeting Riley seemed to have woken the beast, and I’d felt it awakening and uncoiling inside me. My mind was my own worst enemy, and I tortured myself with thoughts of girls he might have been with before me, even the idea enough to twist my stomach into a thousand tightly wound snakes.
He nodded, serious. “Good point.”
He left me on the beach, to walk along the cliff face and through the hidden tunnel that would take me to my friends.
Chapter
3
The evening sky was a clear blue, a faint tinge of pink on the horizon. I saw no sign of the thick fog that had swallowed this area of coastline only a few hours earlier. Waves gently crashed on shore, and the late evening sun warmed my shoulders. My sensitive ears picked up on the pop and crackle of a fire burning, and the tang of smoke carried on the air. Above that came high pitched laughter and voices talking.
I followed the northward curve of the cliff around, toward the end of the beach.
A craggy outcropping of rocks had tumbled from the cliff into the ocean, and I scaled them, watching my footing as I knew some would be slippery from the seaweed and ocean spray. Climbing around the corner of the cliff, I spotted the small natural archway in the cliff face and headed toward it.
The moment I entered the rock, the temperature dropped. I ducked, preventing my head from knocking against the low, stone ceiling. I kept my hands reached out either side of my body, using the stony, damp walls to guide my way through. Right ahead of me, the air changed, and the sunlight grew brighter. Only a few steps later led me down onto the sand of the second cove.
Twisted Magic (The Dhampyre Chronicles Book 2) Page 2
